jensen



April 17, 1928.

L. JENSEN AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER CASH DRAWER Filed March 25. 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 72 7 X0 9/ w i 0% 7g {77 Lou/s (/EMSEN Ari-Y3 April 17, 1928. 1,666,385

L. JENSEN AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER CASH DRAWER Filed M 1rch 25. 1926 V 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Lou/s c/EMsE/v 1,666,385 L. JENSEN AUTOGRAPHI'C REGISTER CASH DRAWER April 17 1928.

Filqd March 25. 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 'llllllllllllnylllll L. JENSEN .wrqemfnrq REGISTER CASH DRAWER Filed larch 25. 1926 4'Sheets-8heet 4 Patented Apr. 17, 1928.

UNITED STATES LOUIS JENSEN, O! CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER PATENT: OFFICE.

COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

AUTOGRAPHIC-REGISTER CASH DRAWER.

Application filed March 25, 1926. Serial No. 97.297.

My present invention relates to a combined autographic register and cash drawer, and has particular reference to the means for releasing and unlocking the drawer during the discharge of a ticket or set of tickets from the register. The structure is so arranged that the drawer is released and opened once duri the feeding of each ticket.- or set of tickets through the register, so that when each sale is made and the ticket or tickets are being delivered from the machine the drawer will be opened and the operator or clerk may have access to the interior of the drawer for depositing the cash received and for making change for the customer, as the case may be. In connection with the foregoing there is also provided simple means for re-winding and storing within the register the record strip or what is frequently termed the summary strip, and the mechanism for stopping the re-wind of this summary strip prior to the complete discharge of the other tickets may be utilized to re-set the drawer latch or its releasing mechanism. Numerous objects are contemplated in the structure disclosed, among which are the provision of a combined autographic register and cash drawer that is compact in arrangement, dependable in operation, economical to manufacture, and novel in construction. All of the objccts I prefer to accomplish in substantially the manner hereinafter fully described and as more particularly pointed out in the claims, reference being made to the accompanying drawings that form a part of this specification.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective showing the combined cash drawer and autographic register, the former being partially opened.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on line 2-2 of Figure 4 and looking in the direction of the arrows, with the parts drawn approximately full-size and showing the latch releasing mechanism in its normally locked position in full lines and in its second position, but prior to releasing the latch, in broken lines.

Figure 3 is. a view, similar to Figure 2 showing the relative positions of the parts after the cash drawer has been released.

Figure is a transverse vertical section taken on line 4-4 of Figure 2 looking in the direction of the arrows, and drawn on a slightly reduced scale.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary detail of the mechanism for locking the drawer with a key so as to permit the autographic register to be used without opening the drawer.

Figure 6 is a longitudinal section throu h the lower feed device and restarter mec anism.

The accompanying drawings are more or less schematic for the purpose of illustrating the principles of my invention applied in a typical or preferred manner, and in said drawings similar reference characters have been employed to designate the same parts wherever they appear throughout the several Views.

The structure preferably comprises a rectangular shaped base 10 that is short.- in height and hollow, and has its vertical end wall nearest. to the operator omitted topermit the sliding drawer 11 to move back and forth. The drawer has the usual cash compartments or pockets, and upon its longitudi' nal side walls are angle-metal tracks or guidestrips 12 that cooperate with a plurality of anti-friction rollers 18 mount d on the interior of the side walls of the base to permit of the easy movement of the drawer. For convenience, the drawer adapted to be projected outwardly a certain distance in an automatic manner when it has been unlatched, and for this purpose I mount a spiral conical spring l i upon the central portion of the wall of the base farthest from the operator, which spring will be compressed and under tension when the drawer is pushed inwardly and latched. A bracket 15 of substantially Ushape is secured to the wall of the base alongside the spring 14 and the parallel arms of the bracket extend away from the wall towards the rear of the drawer and afford bearings for a pivotal rod 16 that projects beyond said bearings to and into the longitudinal side wall of the base as seen in Figure 4, where it is specially formed as at 16 tov be engaged by a suitable key- 17 that may be inserted by authorized persons through a key-hole in the side wall so that the rod 16 may be rotated to unlatch the drawer without releasing or operating the autographic register. The latchbolt 18, having a lateral hook-shaped end 19, is secured upon the pivotal rod 16 between the bearings of the latter by a set-screw 20, and a coiled spring 21 surrounds rod 16 with one end connected with the bracket and its opposite end engaging the latch bolt so as to urge the latter in a downward direction. The inner end wall of the drawer is provided with an upstanding member 22 in alinement with the latcl1bolt so as to be engaged by the hooked end of the latter when the drawer is in its innermost position to latch the same and maintain it against the tension of the ejector spring. Suitable means are provided upon the. opposite longitudinal side-wall of the base for locking the drawer and preventing its being opened whenever it is desired to operate the autographic register by itself. This structure comprises a tube 23 that is inserted in the wall and has a transverse partition that is apertured for the passage of a stud 25 projecting from the end of a cylindrical block 26 rotatably mounted in the tube upon the opposite or inner side of the partit on. An eccentric or crank-pin 27 projects from the inner end of the block 26 through a longi tudinal slot 28 in an oscillating arm 29 pivotally mounted on the side wall of the base and which has a lateral upstanding lug uponits movable end. This arm is so positioned that when the crank-pin is rotated the lug 30 will enter a transverse recess or slot 81 in the lateral flange of the adjacent guide strip 12 on the orawer and thus prevent the longitudinal movement of the drawer in either direction even though the latch bar 18 may have been released or raised.

The means for releasing the latch bolt 18 from the drawer is preferably controlled by some portion of the mechanism that feeds the paper through the autographic register, and as vill be seen in the drawings, the structure is set or rendered. operative by the mechanism that controls the restartcr or the re-wind and slack in the summary or record strip and is released to unlatch the drawer by the mechanism that feeds out the other strips. It of course will be understood that other instrumentalities of an autographic register may readily be employed for this purpose and that the disclosure herein is merely a typical or preferred inannerof embodying the principles of my invention.

The casing 32 of the register is mounted upon the central longitudinal portion of the hollow base 10 and houses the rolls 83 from which the paper strips are unwound and led over the platen or writing bed 34 forming the upper wall of the casing. The paper is moved by means of the opposing rotatable feed elements 35 and 36, the former being a roller and the latter being disks or flanges mounted upon a hollow shaft 37, the ends of the shaft passing through and are journaled in the side walls of the housing and rotated by an operating crank or handle 38 secured to one of the ends of the shaft 3'. Gears 39 and 40 operatively connect shaft 37 with the spindle of the upper feed roller so that the feed elements move in unison and when the perforation as in the paper strips come into registry with the disks or flanges b6 the feed of the paper is discontinued and the superposed strips will be brought into registration with each other. iin idle gear 41 connects the lower feed with a pinion 42 on the adjacent end of a transverse shaft 4-3 extending across the casing and journaled in the side walls thereof and below the pinion 42 is an idle pinion 44 that is adapted to be engaged and disengaged by a cam gear 15. The cam gear normally hangs pendent upon the pin 46 secured to and projecting from the adjacentend of one of the arms of a rocking lever'or bell-crank. This bell-crank comprises two arms 47 and 48 disposed oblique to each other, upon the former of which the cam gear is mounted eccentrically and said bell-crank is fulcrumed at the juncture of its arms upon a pivot element 419 projecting from the side wall of the register casing. The outer end of the arm d8 of the bell-crank has pivotal connection with a link 50 that passes through the bot tom and top respectively of the register casing and the hollow base. lhe lower end of the link 50 is provided with a longitudinally elongated slot 51 to receive the shank of a pin 52 or the like mounted on the adjacent portion of the latch bar 18 back of the cash drawer. The normal position of the gears, bell-crank and the link, and latch-bar are illustrated in full lines in Figure 2 wherein it will be seen the pin 52 is in the lower end portion of the slot 51 of the link so that the drawer may be unlocked by means of the key 17 which will lift the latch-bar 1b to disconnect its end from the upstanding member 22 on the drawer, such movement of the latch bar being permitted by the slot 51 in the link.

In order to maintain the bell-crank and link structure in their normal positions I provide a trigger in the form of an arm 53 pivoted upon a screw lid on the side wall of the register casing the lower end of the arm being engaged in the notch 55 on the edge of the bell-crank arm 47 and in order to maintain these parts in the manner ust described I provide a coiled contraction spring 56 one end of which is connected to bell-crank arm l? and the other end of which is connected to a projection 57 on the end of the trigger arm 53 nearest its pivot. Beyond the pivot 54L the trigger has an oblique e2;- tension '58. the purpose of which will he presently described.

, The summary or record strip, which is the lowermost of the superposed strips the v are seesaw moved over the platen 34, passes from the feed member downwardly into the register instead of being' discharged out of the end of the'register with'tlie other tickets and it is rewound upon a spool 59, the spindle 60 of which is mounted in the side walls of the register casing. The rewind of the summary strip is adapted to bestopped before a whole ticket has been discharged from the register in' order that slack may be created in'the summary strip to prevent pulling or binding of the same. This stoppa'geot the rewind spool is accomplished by providing a ratchet disk 61 upon the spool that is intermittently engaged by the serrations 62 upon the adjacentend of a pawl 63 that is pivoted on a pin 64' secured to the side wallof the casing and beyond its pivot the pawl is provided with a lateral extension 6-5 that projects upwardly alongside of and engages with the oblique extension 58 f the trigger. A coiled contraction spring 66 is connected at oneend with the lateral extension 65 and at its" opposite end' is secured to a screw or the like 67 on the adjacent wall of the registcr casing so that the tendency of? the spring is to urge the serrated end of the pawl '63 toward the ratchet disk on the rewind spool. A lateral pin 68 projects from the upper end I of lateral extension 65'through a slot or opening in the register casing and it is engaged by a finger 69 projecting down from the depressible key element 70 that is mounted uporr the outer extended cndof a rock shaft 71 journaled in the side walls of the register casing The opposite end of the rock-shaft 71 has a paw] 72 secured to it and said rock-shaft is maintained with the key in its normal upper position (Fig.- 2) by means of a coil'ed' spring 73 that surrounds the shaft and has its ends engaged respectively with the pawl 72 and the adjacent side wall of the casing. Thus when the control key 7O is depressed by the operator to the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 2 its finger 69 will, through its engage ment with pin 68 on the lever extension 65 raise the serrated end of the pawl to disengage thesame from the ratchet disk 61' and release the latter for rotation with the rewind spool. This movement of the lever extension" 65 will move the trigger extension causing the lower end of the trigger arm 53 to move out of the notch 55 on the bell-crank arm' 47, whereupon the" spring 56 will pull said arm'47 upwardly bringing the normally which operates the feed elements and causes the gear-train to move in the clirect-ion of the arrows in Fig. 3. As seen in' Figure 2 the portion of eccentrically mounted gear 45 nearest its axis of rotation is the first portion to be meshed with pinion 44' and be moved thereby and as said; eccentric gear 45' rotates the axis of rotation is moved farther from the point of mesh with the pinion so that the bell-crank is rocked upon its pivot 49' thus moving the link O in an upward direction until the lower end of? its slot 5' engages the pin 52 and thereafter the'latrh bar 18 is liited'to release the drawer and permit it to be projected outwardly by the spring 14. The extreme position of movement of the eccentric gear, the bell-crankand the link are diagrammned in Fig} 3; wl'iichillustrates the latch bar lifted to its fullest extent. Continued operation of the crank or handle rotates the feed disks until the next succeeding perforations in the paper strips come into registry with said disks and further discharge of the strips is stopped-- also the gear train will continue to rotate in the direction of the arrows until the contacting or meshing portion of eccentric gear approaches the axis of rotation or to a point where the teeth of the eccentrically mounted gear 4.5 will disengage theteeth on pinion 44 when said gear will drop away from the pinion 44 and return to its normal or pendent position. The bell-crank begins to rock inthe reverse direction after the" eccentric gear passes what might be termed dead-center or when its mesl'iing portion is farthest from the pivot of the gear, which movement of the bell-crank will return the link and latch bar 18 to their normal or initial position where the latch may be" engaged with the co-acting element onthe rear of the drawer whenever the drawer is pushed back into the hollow base by the operator. At about the time the'gear 45 drops out of mesh with pinion 44 the pawl 63 will have moved to stop the'winding of the summary strip so that the extension of the pawl will change from the dotted to the full. line position shown in Figure 2. This permits the trigger to oscillate to its full line position and thus engagethe bell-crank arm 4.7 to maintain the rocking element (bell-crank) against further movement during any fur-. ther portion of the cycle of movement of the device. So long as gear 45 engages the pinion 44 said gear will operate the rocking element or bell-crank and upon disengagement of the gear and pinion the gear will ceaseoperating the'rocking element. It may be here stated that when the key is dc pressed to initially set the mechanism the lower end of the trigger arm 53 is" moved out of the notch 55in bell-crank arm 47 and will be in position over the next notch 74' in said arm which provides clearance for the Inn lower end of the trigger arm 53 when the bell-crank is operated. A curved or crescent-shaped spring 7 5 is secured tothe base of the casing and extends upwardly alongside of the gear 4:5 in order to prevent said gear swinging around too far on its pivot 46 when it has been released from mesh with pinion at.

As before stated, when the key isde pressed the serrated end of the pawl (i3 disengaged from the ratchet disk 61 of the re wind spool ;at the same time, the restarter mechanism is rendered operative. The restarter operates upon the principle disclosed in the pendin application for Letters Patent in the names Walter it. Barker and myself which was filed February 9th, 1.922, Serial No. 535,293, and the mechanism for co-ordi nating the re-starter with the rewind spool for the purpose of providing slack in the summary or record strip is disclosed in the pending application for Letters Patent in the names of myself and Charles ll inter which was filed January 2:; 1926, Serial No. 83,634. Disposed in the interior of the interior of the hollow feed'shaft 37 is a solid shaft 7 5 that is adapted to rotate with the hollow shaft and is also capable of independ ent longitudinal movement within the shaft. Thissolid inner shaft is connected by transverse pin 7 6 with a cam element, in the form of a hollow sleeve 77 having external threads 78 that are engaged by the pawl 72, said pin passing through the solid inner shaft 75 and through longitiulinally elongated slots 79 in the outer tubular shaft in which slot-s the pin may move longitudinally of the shaft. The inner solid shaft is urged in one direction by a coiled expansion spring 80 seated between the inner end of solid shaft 75 and the inner end of the tubular portion of hollow shaft 37. When the key 7 O is depressed shaft 71 is rocked and raises the pawl 72, which is normally engaged with the end edge of the cam element 77 as shown in Figure lthus permitting the cam element to be projected under the pawl so that when the latter is lowered it will engage with the threads 7 8 of the cam element. The rotation of the feed roller shaft 37 by the operating crank will rotate the cam element on the end of shaft 37, which by its engagement with the pawl 72 will be moved back towards its normal position until the pawl element reaches the end of the threads where it moves off the end of the cam element into engagement with the adjacent end of the shaft, which will cause the rocking of the shaft 71 back to its normal position thus raising the key 70 and permit the serrated end of pawl 63 to engage the edge of the serrated disks 61 of the rewind spool and step fur her rotation of the latter. This takes place prior to the time the perforation I: in the paper strips reach the feed ea set disks or flanges 36 so that all ofthe strips, including the record or summary strip are moved forward the remaining distance to the perforations which creates the desired slack in the summary or record strip. The summary spool is rotated by a train of gear that is actuated by a portion of the gear train heretofore described and consists of a pinion 81 on the outer end of the rotatable rod l3 that meshes with the gear 82 forming one of a pair of frictionally connected gears mounted upon the exterior of the casing. Gear 82 is spaced from and driven with its companion gear 83 by means of friction disks 8% that are interposed between them. A pinion 85 (Fig. 8) is mounted upon the outer end of the spindle 60 of the summary spool in mesh with and driven by the gearv 83so that the summary spool is rotated by the feed devices through the gear trains.

The restarter mechanism comprises an annulus 86 normally loose upon the shaft 37 alongside a fixed collar 87 secured to said shaft and said annulus has a tapered bore 88 of greater diameter than shaft 37 that permit he annulus to hang eccentric on the shalt when not in operative position, and when the annulus is centered on the shaft by the cone-shaped clutch element 89 on shaft 37 the periphery of the annulus will be placed in coactive relation with the central portion of the upper feed roller 35 intermediate the longitudinal rows of perforations so that by rotating shaft 37 the paper strips initially moved by the annulus a distance sufficient to carry the perforations 41 out of registration with the feed disks or flanges 36. The cone clutch element 89 is mounted upon the tubular shaft 37 by a pin 90 that passes through longitudinally elongated slots in said shaft and through a transverse slot 92 in the solid shaft 75 (Fig. 6) A coiled spring 93 surrounds the shaft 37 between the base of the cone 89 and the hub of the adjacent disk or flange 36 so as to urge the cone towards the annulus. hen the pawl 72 has been raised from the end edge of the cam sleeve 77 the inner solid shaft 75 will be moved towards the right, Figs. 4 and 6, thus permitting the cone to center the annulus, ld hile thecam sleeve 77 is moving to the left during the feeding operation the inner shaft 75 is correspondingly moved until the end of the slot 92 therein engages the pin 90 thereby moving the cone away from the annulus to release the latter and permit it to again assume an eccentric position and disengaged from the roller 35 and the paper strips.

The mechanism hereinbefore described is so arranged that upon the depression of the key 7 O the drawer latch will be set or placed in an operative position to be released during the feeding out of the tickets on the paper strips and the respective operations are synchronized so that a set of tickets must be partly discharged before the drawer 11 is unlocked and released. The setting of the latch takesplace sin'iultancously with the centering of the rcstarter annulus 86 to initially feed the paper strips and the time of release of the drawer is determined by the relation between the eccentrically mounted gear 45 with the pinion 44, as well as the construction and arrangement of the link 50 and the bell-crank upon which said eccentric gear is mounted. Vhile the mechanism herein disclosed is desirable and convenient it is not, however, necessary, as another autographic register means may be utilized for the purposes specified, the disclosed mechanism being a typical embodiment of the principles involved.

What I claim is 1. A device of the kind described comprising a hollow base, a drawer movable there in, a latch for maintaining the drawer normally closed, a rocking device for operating the latch, a gear train and actuating means therefor, and an eccentrically mounted element operated by the gear train whereby to actuate said rocking device and release the latch, said element adapted to gravitate out of cooperative relation with the gear train to cease operating the rocking device.

2. A device of the kind described comprising a hollow base, a drawer reciprocable therein, a latch for maintaining the drawer normally closed, a rocking device for controlling said latch, an eccentrically mounted element having operative connection wvith said rocking device, and means for actuating said eccentrical'ly mounted element, said element adapted to gravitate out of cooperative relation with said actuating means to cease operating the rocking device.

3. A device of the kind described comprising a hollow base, a drawer reciprocable therein. a latch for maintaining said drawer normally closed, a rocking lever operatively connected to said latch, an eccentric element mounted upon andea'rried by one end of said lever, and means for actuating said eccentric element, said element adapted to gravitate out of cooperative relation with said actuating means to cease operating the rocking lever.

4. A device of the kind described comprising a hollow base, a drawer, reciprocable therein, a latch for maintaining said drawer, normally closed, a gear rotatable upon an eccentric axis, a gear train for'actuating said gear, and means operatively connecting said first-named gear with said latch.

5. A device of the kind described comprising a hollow base, a drawer reciprocable therein, a latch for maintaining said drawer normally closed, a rocking lever operatively connected to said latch, a gear rotatable upon an eccentric axis and mounted upon.

one end of said lever, and a gear train operatively connected to said gear.

6. A device of the kind described comprising a hollow base, a drawer reciprocable therein, a latch for maintaining said drawer normally closed, a rocking lever fulcrumed intermediate its ends and one arm of which has operative connection with said latch, a gear rotatable uponan eccentric axis and 'mounted upon an arm of said lever, and

a gear train operatively connected to said gear.

7. A device of the kind described comprising a hollow base, a drawer reciprocable therein, a latch for maintaining said drawer normally closed, a bell-crank lever fulcrumed at the juncture of its arms, alink operatively connecting an arm of the bellcrank lever to said latch, ;a gear rotatable upon an eccentric axis and mounted upon the other arm of the bell-crank lever, and a gear train operatively connected to said gear.

8. A device of the kind described COHlprising a hollow base, a drawer reciprocable therein, a latch for maintaining said drawer normally closed, a rock-ing lever operatively connected to said latch, a trigger normally maintaining said lever in an inoperative position, means for tripping said trigger to permit said lever to assume an operative position, an eccentrically mounted operating element having operative connection,

with said lever, and actuating means adapted to be operatively connected to said eccentric element when said lever is in its operative position.

9. A device of the kind described comprising a hollow base, a drawer reci'procable therein, a latch for maintaining said drawer normally closed, an ecce'ntrically mounted element, means for rotating said element, said element being normally disconnected from said means, devices operatively "connecting said elementwith said latch, and means for moving said element into and out of operative relation with respect to its -rotating means.

10. A device of the kind described comprising a hollow base, a drawer reciprocable therein, a latch for maintaining said drawer closed, an eccentrically mounted rotatable element, actuating means for said element, means operatively connecting said eccentric element with said latch, a trigger normally maintaining said eccentric element disconnected from said actuating means, and means for tripping said trigger whereby said eccentric element assumes operative relation with its actuating means.

11. A device of the kind described comprising a housing, a rotatable shaft journaled in the walls thereof, a drawer reciprocable in said. housing, a rotatable spindle, gearing including frictionally connected. elements for actuating said. spindle from said shall, doviccs for stopping the rotation of said spindle independent of said gearing, a key for releasing said devices to permit the rotation of said spindle, a latch normally maintaining said drawer closed, normally inoperative means operated by the shaft for releasing said latch, and a structure for normally maintaining said releasing means in an inoperative position and adapted to be' operated by the movement of said key to render said releasing means operative to re lease the latch.

12. A device of the kind described comprising a housing, a rotatable shaft, a drawer reciprocable in said housing, a latch for maintaining said drawer norn'ially closed, means operated by said shaft for releasing said latch, a spindle intern'iittentlyrotated by said shaft, mechanisnitor controlling the rotation of said spindle and normally main taining said latch releasing means in inoper ative position, and a device for moving said trigger whereby to permit the operation of said latch releasing means to release said spindle.

13. A device of the kind described comprising a housing, a rotatable shaft, a drawer reciprocable in said housing, a latch for maintaining said. drawer normally closed, a rotatable spindle within said casing, a gear train operatively connecting said spindle and shaft, a rockingdevice adapted to release said latch, a gear train adapted to connect and operate said rocking device with said shaft one of said gears being normally out of mesh, a trigger for maintaining said last named gear in its normal position, pawl and ratchet devices for controlling the retation of said spindle and means common to said pawl and ratchet devices and said trigger for rendering the same operative.

14. A device of the kind described comprising'a housing, a drawer slidable therein, and means for controlling the movement of the drawer including an operating key, a latch for normally maintaining the drawer closed, norn'ially ineffective devices adapted to be intermittently operated to release the latch and said devices including a train of gear one of which is gravity controlled and moves away from the adjacent gear to discontinue operation of the latch, and other devices actuated by said key for rendering said latch devices elif'ective.

15. A device of the kind described comprising a housing, a drawer siidable therein, and means controlling the movement of the drawer including an operating key, a latch for normally maintaining the drawer closed, devices adapted to be intermittently operated to release the latch and including a train of gear one of. which is gravity controlled and moves away from the adjacent gear to discontinue operation of the latch, and a trig gel operated by said key and adapted to normally maintain a portion of said release devices in non-operative position and when operated by the key to cause the same to assume its operative position.

16. A device of the kind described com-- prising a housing, a drawer slidable therein, and means controlling the movement of the drawer including an operative key, a latch for normally maintaining the drawer closed, devices adapted to be intermittently operated to release the latch and including a train oi gear one of which is gravity controlled and moves away from the adjacent gear to dis continue operation of the latch, said devices also including a rock lever having operative connection with the latch, and. a trigger which maintains said rock lever in an inoperative relat-ion to the other portion or said release devices, said trigger having o iierative connection witl said key whereby said. trigger is adapted to be moved to tree the rock lover and term operative connection with the remaining portion of the release devices.

Signed at Chicago, in the county of Cook, and State of Illinois, this 19 day of March,

LOUIS JENSEN. 

